Content Marketing for lead generation

Here, we explore how and why you should be using Content Marketing for lead generation…

Particularly popular in the age of Social Media, Content Marketing is a way of promoting your products or services without directly selling them.

Focused on the benefits, and potential individual benefits, of using your product or service, Content Marketing provides your audience with useful information, aspiration, and inspiration.

Due to its nature, Content Marketing is a perfect lead generation tool; bringing potential customers to your website without forcing them to purchase anything.

And because you’re not asking them to purchase anything, you can often afford to be cheeky and capture ask them for their details instead.

The tricky part is doing this in a positive and productive way, so those individuals giving you their details feel positive, know they won’t be spammed or harassed, and are totally relevant.

If, for example, you coerce 100 people into sign up to receive emails from you about digital marketing best practices, but 80% of them actually work in retail and have nothing to do with marketing, you’ll probably end up wasting a lot of your time, and their time, communicating with them.

So, how best can you use Content Marketing for lead generation?

Don’t go straight in: a lot of websites tend to display a data capture form as soon as you click through and land on a web page. Whilst this can work, it can also be incredibly off putting for a lot of readers. Consider why the reader has landed on this page, and what they want to do. You might want to capture their details, but they probably want to digest the information you’re offering them. Let them do that first. Consider a timed pop-up; a form that appears after the reader has been on the page for a specific amount of time or putting a really strong call to action at the bottom of the page.

Focus on the benefits: it’s all too easy to focus on how wonderful your business is when creating content. But, actually, what you should be doing – particularly when using Content Marketing specifically as a lead generation tool – is talking about the benefits to the user of your product or service. You need to find a way of showing them, with your content, how much better their lives will be when they start using what you’re offering them. Inspire them, and they’ll be itching to give you a call or email you.

Offer them something: if they give you their details, you get a lead – a potential sale – but what do they get? If the answer to this is a barrage of unhelpful calls or emails, don’t bother. But if the answer is: handy hints & tips related to the subject, more information or a helpful comprehensive guide… do it. Put your reader at the centre, and give them something you know they will find really useful.

Drip feed them: often, the gentle, long term approach is better than expecting potential customers to take immediate action. Try drip marketing; for example, target specific audiences with a Facebook advert linking through to a useful article or blog post, and retarget those who clicked through on the first advert with another, more direct advert – pushing them down the sales funnel that way.

So, there we have it. A couple of handy tips on how to use Content Marketing for lead generation. Simple when you know how, right? Maybe not, but it is a powerful tool when used properly.

If you’d like to capture more leads and increase your sales, contact us today.

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